Tools You Can Use

Check out the new app aligned with the latest cardiovascular disease risk assessment guidelines—The ASCVD Risk Estimator, available on the web and mobile devices, is a companion tool to the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association Cardiovascular Risk Guidelines launched last year. The app uses data including age, sex, race/ethnicity, diabetes status, and ABCS measures to estimate a patient’s 10-year and lifetime risk for heart attack and stroke. Health care professionals and their patients can use the app together to make decisions about the appropriate use of statins as well as determine weight management techniques and diet and physical activity changes that can improve heart health.
Use Washington’s resource to improve the screening, prevention, and management of hypertension—The Washington State Department of Health, in collaboration with CDC and the University of Washington Medical Center’s Hypertension Clinic, recently published a five-step implementation guide to improving high blood pressure control. The guide includes a package of evidence-based change concepts and supporting tools that can serve as a template for quality improvement work.
Select effective clinical preventive services for your business—A Purchaser’s Guide to Clinical Preventive Services: Moving Science into Coverage helps employers by taking the guesswork out of selecting benefits that promote health, reduce costs, and prevent chronic diseases and disability. Each recommendation is based on medical evidence and includes detailed benefit language employers need to implement comprehensive and structured clinical preventive service benefits.
Take a look at CDC’s new factsheet on state laws authorizing pharmacists to work with physicians and other health care professionals to manage patients’ drug therapy—The factsheet includes details about how many states authorize collaborative drug therapy management by physicians and pharmacists, whether pharmacists can prescribe drugs or order and interpret laboratory tests, whether the Board of Pharmacy must approve collaborative practice agreements, and whether specialized training or continuing education is required.
Provide feedback on the proposed changes to the Nutrition Facts label—The Food and Drug Administration is seeking feedback on its proposed revisions to the format and appearance of the Nutrition Facts label, including reducing the daily value for sodium from 2,400 milligrams (mg) to 2,300 mg, updating serving size requirements to reflect amounts currently eaten, and requiring that potassium be included on the label. Submit your electronic or written comments by June 2, 2014.

Million Hearts^® in the Community

Federal government announces funds for increasing the use of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) in primary care practice. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has requested applications to help primary care practices build capacity to implement PCOR findings to improve heart health through clinical care. AHRQ also is offering funds for an evaluation of the initiative to discover if and how practice support can best be used to disseminate and implement PCOR findings in primary care practice. Letters of intent for both requests are due by May 23, 2014. Funds are expected to be awarded in early 2015.
Heartfelt testimonials from men and women share the “path to a healthier heart.” One Midwestern community has taken to the airwaves to motivate people to take steps to a healthier heart. The Healthy Communities Partnership in southwest Indiana took to the screen during American Heart Month and shared stories from men and women in the local community to motivate others.
The Measure Up/Pressure Down^&#0153 campaign will hostNational Day of Action: Roll Up Your Sleeves! on May 15, 2014.The American Medical Group Foundation invites all Million Hearts^®supporters to take at least one action to raise awareness of high blood pressure and put health care professionals and individuals on the path to better control. For more information, send an e-mail to the Foundation.

Let us know what you're doing to advance Million Hearts^® in your community! Send us a short description with some key points, and we may feature you in a future e-Update!

The Science of Million Hearts^®

New stroke guidelines describe risk factors, offer prevention tips for women. Reproductive age, hormone replacement therapy, migraines, smoking, and atrial fibrillation are risk factors that health care professionals should discuss with their female patients, according to this report in the journal Stroke. Share this infographicto bring the message home.
Community health workers can help address disparities in heart health. This report in Preventing Chronic Disease describes how community health workers who used culturally tailored curricula developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute helped members of racial and ethnic minority groups improve their heart health knowledge and behaviors.
Urine sodium excretion increased slightly among U.S. adults over two decades. CDC reports in the Journal of Nutrition that average sodium intake estimated from urine samples of U.S. adults aged 20–59 years increased slightly from 1988 to 2010 and is higher than recommended amounts.

Elements associated with effective adoption and use of a protocol

Last year, the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged practices and health systems to use evidence-based hypertension treatment protocols to improve blood pressure control. Million Hearts^® offered sample protocols and a template for building your own protocol. To accelerate adoption and implementation, leading experts and Million Hearts^®partners provide insights on how to get the most out of using a treatment protocol in “Elements Associated with Effective Adoption and Use of a Protocol.” Check out the new tip sheet, and then tell us about your experiences implementing protocols.

—Janet Wright, MD, FACC
Executive Director, Million Hearts^®

Do This!
One Easy Way to Support Million Hearts^®

We want to know what your practice, health system, or community is doing to support the Million Hearts^®goal of preventing 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. Are you: Using health information technology, such as patient registries, electronic health records, and patient reminders? Using an evidence-based hypertension treatment protocol? Offering financial incentives to health care teams that help patients improve their blood pressure control? Working with Meals on Wheels to offer lower-sodium options to seniors? Encouraging employers to offer health insurance with no or low out-of-pocket costs for high blood pressure and cholesterol medications and home blood pressure monitoring devices? Tell us about your work.